Voters still confused over Issue 2

COLUMBUS

I gave a speech to a group at the University of Mount Union in Alliance last week as part of its Continued Learning Program.

I spoke about journalism and state politics. It was a friendly crowd, with no hecklers and only one gentleman who offered criticism of my beard.

No speech on Statehouse happenings would be complete without ample discussion of Issue 2, so Senate Bill 5 was front and center on the agenda. Most of the 60 or so people in attendance had heard of the controversial collective bargaining law, which will be decided by voters next month.

It would be hard not to be aware of it at this point, considering the protest scenes at the Statehouse earlier this year, the contentious legislative process and bill signing by Gov. John Kasich and the ugly campaign that’s in full swing, attempting to sway voters to vote for or against the bill.

We’ve had near-daily news coverage of Senate Bill 5 and the resulting Issue 2 on next month’s ballot. There’s been lengthy analysis of the legislation and commentary on the potential pros and cons of its contents.

There are hundreds of videos available online of the Statehouse protests, lawmaker debate and press conferences on the topic.

You would be hard pressed to drive through some Ohio communities without seeing campaign signs on Issue 2.

So I asked for a show of hands of people in the audience: How many had heard about Senate Bill 5? Most indicated that they were aware of it.

Nervous laughter

Then I asked how many thought they understood what was actually in the bill. Their response: few hands, heads shaking and nervous laughter.

That surprises me. After months of Senate Bill 5 bombardments, many Ohioans still don’t have a good grasp of the bill’s contents.

Add to that the confusion over the ballot question itself. I talked to a couple of people who still don’t understand whether they’re supposed to vote “yes” or “no.”’ (For the record, a “yes” would retain the new law, a “no” would repeal it.)

Part of this, I assume, is political strategy. People may be more likely to vote against an issue if they don’t fully understand it.

According to the polls — that’s if you believe the polls — Senate Bill 5 is headed for defeat. The last survey by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute had 51 percent of registered voters opposing Senate Bill 5 and 38 percent supporting it.

But more than half of respondents said they supported basing public employee pay on performance rather than seniority, requiring public employees to pay at least 15 percent of their health insurance and 10 percent of their wages toward pensions.

I think what that means is that voters may reject Senate Bill 5, but lawmakers have an open door to push separate legislation implementing the parts of the bill that the electorate apparently supports.

Whether voters will have a better grasp on any subsequent action by lawmakers on collective bargaining issues remains to be seen.

Marc Kovac is The Vindicator’s Statehouse correspondent. Email him at mkovac@dixcom.com or on Twitter at OhioCapitalBlog.